BishopAccountability.org
	Trew Blasts Media Coverage By Trevor Pritchard Standard Freeholder April 30, 2008 http://www.standard-freeholder.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1007111 A veteran city police officer who took the stand at the Cornwall Public Inquiry Tuesday unleashed a torrent of criticism at news outlets for years of "negative, lopsided" coverage. Rick Trew, a former inspector with the Cornwall Police Service's criminal investigations branch, paused frequently and at one point reached for a tissue as he condemned how the media covered the force's handling of a number of historical sexual abuse investigations. "This negative media storm lasted for 15 years," said Trew, reading from prepared notes. "The media used our professional silence as a fact that we were covering up when we really were trying to protect." The 28-year veteran of the service had been asked by Comm. Normand Glaude if he had any recommendations for the inquiry, which is exploring how institutions responded to decades of sexual abuse allegations in the Cornwall area. In late 1992, city police launched what would end up being a 10-month investigation into allegations against a Roman Catholic priest and a local probation officer. David Silmser had come forward alleging he was sexually abused as a boy by Rev. Charles MacDonald and Ken Seguin. The force closed the investigation in September 1993 after learning Silmser had accepted $32,000 from the Alexandria-Cornwall Roman Catholic Diocese and would not testify against MacDonald. Silmser's statement was later turned over to the Children's Aid Society by former Cornwall cop Perry Dunlop, and eventually made its way into the media. Trew acknowledged Tuesday what a handful of other officers had already testified to - that in the late 1990s, the city's police force was suffering from poor morale. The booming smuggling trade had caused city crime to skyrocket, and officers had become "discouraged (and) disenchanted" with the lack of resources at their fingertips, he said. "It feels like going to work in the rain every day," said Trew. "We, the police, are frustrated and start to blame each other when the problem is far bigger (than that)." Trew did not cite any specific media outlets or stories which he felt were unfair. He had made a similar attack the day before, blaming the media for spreading "erroneous" rumours of a pedophile ring in the Cornwall area. Under cross-examination, Citizens for Community Renewal attorney Helen Daley took Trew to his notes from February 1998. By that time, Trew had been assigned to act as the force's liaison officer for the OPP's Project Truth investigation - a four-year sex abuse probe that ended with 115 charges laid against 15 local men. Trew's notes showed some alleged victims were disclosing their abuse to the Project Truth team rather than Cornwall police because of "what they read and see (in) the media." Three media agencies were named in the notes: the Cornwall Standard-Freeholder, the Ottawa Sun, and The Fifth Estate, a CBC investigative journalism program that had previously featured Dunlop in a documentary. Daley asked Trew if, by that time, city police had "lost the battle for the hearts and minds" of Cornwall residents. Trew said he never lost faith that the force's reputation would one day be salvaged. Daley also asked about the disclosure of Silmser's statement to the CAS - in particular, whether officers other than Dunlop ever considered that there still could be children at risk in the community. Trew, who spent the entire Silmser investigation off on sick leave, said in 1993 the force felt it had to be careful about divulging "information that might not be true" to other agencies. "Things have changed," said Trew. "(But) we felt that there was no - at that time - that there was no direct evidence there's a child in need of protection." Neither MacDonald nor Seguin were ever convicted of sexually abusing children. MacDonald was charged in 1996 by the OPP, but those charges were stayed six years later after a judge decided they'd taken too long to come to trial. Seguin committed suicide in November 1993 and was never charged. Daley's cross-examination stood in stark contrast to the stormy day-and-a-half Trew spent being questioned by commission counsel Ian Stauffer. Tensions between the two boiled over early Tuesday morning after Trew said he felt Stauffer's "tone of voice" suggested the lawyer believed he was being evasive about dates and conversations. After Trew's impassioned speech, and after a 20-minute break for the veteran cop to compose himself, Glaude told Trew the inquiry appreciated his testimony. He then reminded everyone in the hearings room to treat each other civilly. "If we upset you in any way, I sincerely want to apologize," Glaude told Trew. "This is not the place to grow negativity . . . it is the place to reduce it." Trew is scheduled to return to the stand this morning.
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.